Drunks across Kingston 'costing ambulance service £159,000 a year'

Drunks in Kingston should pay a £180 fine for their bad behaviour, a Conservative Greater London Authority (GLA) member has said.

Richmond councillor and Kingston GLA member Tony Arbour is campaigning to double fines for drunken behaviour.

A new report revealed binge drinkers across Kingston cost the London Ambulance Service at least £159,000 a year.

He said: "We need to deter this behaviour by doubling fines for drunkenness to £180 and hitting those who repeatedly abuse our health services, many of whom are currently getting off scot-free."

London Ambulance was called out to 687 alcohol related incidents in Kingston between April 2012 and March 2013, according to the report On the Wagon: Reducing the Cost of Binge Drinking by Expanding Sobering Services, by the Greater London Authority Conservatives.

Data collected from Freedom of Information requests for the report also show between January and April this year ambulance workers were called out to 199 alcohol-related call-outs in the borough.